An under-appreciated aspect of the Epstein fiasco is what his actual M.O. was. People focus on the benefits Epstein accrued directly from MIT, and ignore the indirect benefits, which were probably much more powerful. To wit: Ronan Farrow has emails in which Epstein arranged donation from other powerful people, including Bill Gates; essentially, Epstein's donations "bought" him the ability to act as MIT's agent among other wealthy philanthropists. His donations may have been pro-forma anonymous, but were in reality the opposite of that precisely among the people whose influence he cared most about.